


What Follows The Black Paladin

by shepardly



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 01:52:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7665682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shepardly/pseuds/shepardly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A take on what could come after the last episode of season 1. Written mainly to give myself some peace of mind before season 2 comes and to make sure SpaceDad gets the hugs he deserves.</p><p>Allura and an injured Shiro are stranded in space aboard the Black Lion after falling from the Castle and wormhole, and must find their way home. </p><p>Pre-Shallura hinted at but can be viewed as platonic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Follows The Black Paladin

Allura opened her eyes with a groan, and had to take a moment to let her doubled surroundings coalesce. She was lying on the floor near the back wall of the Black Lion, and she could see through the view screen that they were no longer in the Castle, but tumbling slowly through empty space. Emergency lighting was on, casting a red tinge on the cockpit.

Shiro.

His name was already on her lips as she scrambled to her feet. She teetered for a moment, but quickly caught her balance. She was feeling bruised and battered but didn’t think anything was broken. She staggered to the pilot’s seat and dropped to a knee in front of him, her heart sinking.

Shiro was sprawled limply in the seat, completely motionless. Allura felt a lump in her throat as she carefully removed his helmet and felt for his pulse, but breathed a sigh of relief when she found what she was looking for.

Shiro groaned softly then, his eyelids fluttering. He slowly opened his eyes to look at her in confusion for a moment before offering her a dazed grin.

“Shiro? Are you alright?” Allura was worried. Why would anyone smile in a situation like this?

Shiro blinked twice as the smile faded and he seemed to take in his surroundings. Allura could almost pinpoint the second his memory came back to him, and he tried to rise, but fell back with a yelp and clutched at his side. She gently pried his fingers away to inspect the area where the druid had clawed him, and only just barely managed to hide her shock.

The wound was deep, and she could have sworn she saw a glow of purple for a split second. Allura found the first aid kit stashed in the Black Lion and tended to the wound as best as she could, saying nothing as Shiro silently endured with only one initial flinch.

Once she had finished, Allura looked up to see that Shiro had his eyes squeezed shut as he gripped the armrest of the pilot’s seat. She gently touched his face and his bleary eyes snapped open, looking at her and his surroundings with confusion.

“Shiro, you should rest.”

Shiro was already shaking his head before she could finish the sentence.

“No, we have to find the rest of the team." Shiro was already stubbornly pulling up screens and scanners on the Black Lion's HUD. "They could be hurt or in danger.”

Allura opened her mouth to protest, but found she couldn’t argue. The Paladins were a capable bunch, but they were so young. She knew they couldn't leave them in good conscience without at least trying. Instead, she helped scan the area and look for signs of the other Lions. When nothing came up, they plotted a course in the same direction that the wormhole would have been going and set the scanners to alert them when any Lions or the Castle came into range. Fortunately, the Black Lion was capable of flying itself when given a course, giving them some respite, although they both were reluctant to leave the scanners and view screen as if they might miss something.

A couple hours later, Shiro jerked out of a doze so badly that he nearly fell off his seat. 

“Are you okay?” Allura looked concerned and got to her feet from where she had been sitting on the floor beside the pilot’s seat.

“It was… nothing. Just a bad dream.” Shiro shrugged it off but he still looked disturbed. “I’m just tired. Maybe I should try to get some rest while I can.”

Allura had to help him, but he managed to stand and she guided him from the seat to where she had found a blanket and pillow and helped him lay down on the floor. Despite the hard floor, Shiro was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

***

Shiro slowly opened his eyes and had to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. When had the lights gone out? And why couldn’t he sense his Lion?

The room eventually came into view, and panic seized him when he realized it was a Galra cell. He lurched upright with a gasp, back slamming against the wall as his heart raced. He leapt to his feet and frantically checked the entire cell for an escape, but he was trapped.

“No, no no nonono,” Shiro clutched his head in his hands, sinking to the floor in the corner furthest from the door. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a nightmare, just like the others that had been plaguing him ever since he had escaped the Galra. It wasn’t real.

“Oh, it’s real.” Haggar materialized in the cell with him with a hiss, leering over him. “I think you’ll find escape won’t be as easy this time, Champion.”

Shiro squeezed his eyes shut, clapping hands over his ears, but her voice still made it directly into his brain.

“Your friends are dead. The Altean princess put up an admirable fight at least before she was put down. The rest of them were whimpering fools.” Haggar gloated. “The Galra own Voltron now. Join us, and maybe they will allow you one last glimpse of your planet before it is harvested.”

Shiro lunged, and had the druid by the throat with his prosthetic arm and against the wall in a split second. She grinned wickedly at him, eyes crackling with power, but she didn’t attempt to get away.

“Do it, Shiro. Prove your might to the Galra. KILL ME.”

Shiro squeezed harder, completely cutting off her air supply. He wanted to kill her, everything in him screamed at him to do it. Her eyes flickered, and he could have sworn he saw someone familiar there. Conflicting emotions raged through him, and he abruptly decided he would never kill at the behest of a Galra again, even if it was one of them. He began to relax his grip, but she suddenly grabbed his Galra arm and it crackled to life. He couldn’t control it, and could only watch helplessly as the glowing limb tightened it’s grip.

He focused inward, fighting whatever it was that had taken control of him. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Haggar was not going to win this sick fight.

Someone gently touched his face. Startled, Shiro's eyes snapped open. He was back in the Black Lion, just as it was before he had gone to sleep.

His glowing hand was wrapped around Allura’s throat.

“Allura,” Shiro gasped, trying to jerk his hand away, but he still couldn’t move. The princess looked relatively calm for having her throat nearly crushed by someone she called friend, and had reached out to gently caress his cheek.

There was a dizzying flash of light, and it was Haggar in his grip again, in the Galra cell.

“KILL ME.” She shouted into his mind again. His grip involuntarily twitched as he struggled against her influence. Which was real? Was any of it real?

The gentle touch snapped him out of it again. Pain lanced through his head.

“Allura, please, you have to kill me,” Shiro begged, not sure of how much time he had, “She’s in my head, I can’t fight it. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Allura carefully but easily pried his fingers from around her throat, her eyes heart-breakingly mournful. The vision of Haggar and then Allura snapped in and out rapidly as Haggar fought to regain control again, sending needling pain through his brain. 

“Help me.” Shiro was nearly sobbing, the physical and mental pain unbearable as his Galra arm moved against his will. “Kill me!”

Allura managed a small nod. He couldn’t help but feel relieved knowing that she would do anything to protect Voltron and his team. She would take care of them. He still couldn’t control his body as his glowing Galra arm clutched at empty air, but she held him easily.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, “Thank you.”

“Forgive me,” Allura murmured, and struck.

***

Allura was reasonably sure that Shiro’s scream would haunt her to the end of her days. She had struck with the edge of her hand with all of her might, but had only partially severed the Galra limb, above his elbow and just below where it attached to his flesh. The glow had sputtered and gone out, and Shiro had staggered with a gasp of shock that turned to a scream as the pain hit, dropping him to his knees. Allura moved swiftly and finished the dismemberment, and dropped the piece of dead Galra tech on the floor to catch Shiro as he passed out.

Some sort of hydraulic fluid mixed with blood leaked from what remained of the tech in his arm, and his whole body twitched as something shorted and sparked, but it only lasted for a moment as the last of the tech died.

Allura carefully let Shiro down to the floor and quickly grabbed the pillow to put under his head. She retrieved the first aid kit from where she had left it earlier, and removed the armour from his arm and cut his sleeve up to the shoulder to examine how the last of the tech was attached to him. She had to remove a protective strip of plating, but was able to expose the area, and realized that it was actually embedded into the stump. It was more than likely why he was able to control the arm as if it were his own, and probably why the druid was able to control him through it.

What she hadn’t anticipated was that her blows had nearly ripped the tech from his arm. Blood was beginning to flow from his arm freely, and she realized she had to do something now. She couldn’t get at the wounds without ripping out the rest of the tech, but she had no idea how embedded it was and didn’t want to take the risk of killing him. Instead, she pulled the auto-tourniquet from the first aid kit and clamped it around his bicep, just above the tech, and it applied pressure until the bleeding slowed and ultimately stopped.

She checked his pulse, and found it racing and thready. Judging by the amount of blood on the floor, she suspected he was going into shock. Allura found the treatment that Altean’s used for such incidents, and could only hope that it would help his human physiology as she injected it directly into his neck.

Shiro chose that moment to come around with a pitiful groan, eyes fluttering open. He looked confused for a second, as if he hadn’t expected to be waking up. She realized with a start that he really had expected her to kill him.

“Hold still, Shiro.” Allura pressed a hand to his chest as he weakly stirred. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“How…” Shiro shivered, badly. He was looking pale. He tried to move again, and she saw when he tried to move his prosthetic. There was enough power left for a spark that made him flinch violently, and he nearly screamed again in pain. He began trembling in earnest when he saw that his arm was missing, and Allura couldn’t stop herself from gathering him up in her arms in an attempt to comfort him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her face nestled between his neck and shoulder. “I had hoped… I wasn’t sure if it would work…”

“How did you know?” Shiro’s sounded weak but he tried to hug her back. “I could have killed you… You shouldn’t have risked…”

Allura pulled back to look him in the eye.

“When you attacked me, your eyes were glowing like a druid’s. I suspect she infected you with her power in the wound in your side, and used it to gain control of your arm.” Allura explained, “I hoped that removing the Galra tech would release her hold on you, and it did. I couldn’t lose you, Shiro. I can’t lose you too.”

“I could have hurt you.” His eyes actually welled up with tears as he choked up. “What if I killed you? I couldn’t...”

“You wouldn’t have hurt me. I wouldn’t let you.” Allura pulled him away from the pool of his blood and wrapped him in the blanket he had been using when he initially gone to sleep.

Shiro was fast and deadly for a human, but Allura was fighting fit and possessed strength that was near superhuman compared to the current Paladins. Both her and Coran tended to keep that information about Alteans to themselves, however, as they didn’t want to discourage any of the earthlings anymore than they could be some days.

Shiro was still shivering, but the blanket did seem to help. She gently laid him down and pulled a work box closer to elevate his legs. Some rummaging around found some water and food rations, and she helped him sip a small amount of water to make sure he could keep it down. He did, so she made sure he got enough water and food, and by the time he was drifting off to sleep his colour and heart rate was much better. Thankfully, the Altean treatment for shock seemed to work just fine on humans.

She left him to sleep, but nightmares plagued Shiro, who was wrenched out of sleep in a cold sweat several times. Sometimes he awoke with a scream, other times with a whimper, and at least twice she turned to find him wide awake when he had been asleep moments ago and gasping for air like he had just run a marathon.

“I remember,” Shiro confessed during one the quiet moments when Allura sat beside him as comfort for herself as much as for him. “I remember what happened to my arm. It hurts now, but this time isn’t as bad as then.”

He didn’t offer any more explanation, and she simply took his hand and held it as he fell asleep again. Once his breathing evened out, she laid a hand across his forehead.

The fever had started some time before, but she suspected he hadn’t noticed. There were only a few doses of medicine that would help in the kit, only enough for maybe two days. She pulled out a dose and considered it for a moment, then looked at Shiro. He was sleeping peacefully enough, but his brow was slightly furrowed and beginning to bead with sweat.

Mind made up, Allura gave him the dose of medicine. He stirred slightly but slept on, testament enough to his declining condition.

Allura checked the scanners again, but there still wasn’t any sign of anyone. She made sure everything was still functioning properly, although she wasn’t able to change anything anyway. The Black Lion was only responding to Shiro at the moment, although it continued its swift journey through the stars.

She went back to Shiro to check on him, and thought that the medicine had perhaps helped a bit. Taking the opportunity, she sat on the floor with her back against the wall, resting a hand over the pulse in his wrist, and closed her eyes in a half-hearted attempt to get some sleep.

***

Allura started awake, unsure of what had awoken her. She looked towards the scanners, but they were quiet. She felt movement under her hand, and looked down at Shiro.

The Black Paladin was stirring restlessly, brow furrowed and covered in a sheen of sweat. He faintly groaned when she patted his cheek, but his eyes fluttered open to reveal a bleary gaze. He tried to speak but he was obviously parched. She helped him drink, and they both jumped when a small alarm sounded.

Allura leapt to her feet and went to check the scanners.

“It’s the Red Lion!” Allura nearly shouted in her relief. She hit the comm system. “Keith! Come in! Do you read?”

“Allura?!” Keith sounded incredulous. “Is that you? Are you okay? Where’s Shiro?”

“I’m fine, I’m with Shiro in the Black Lion. He needs medical attention, but he’s okay for now. How about you?”

“My Lion is damaged, but I’ve been limping along ever since. I’m a bit beat up but okay, though. I haven’t heard from anyone else yet.”

Allura explained to Keith what they had been doing ever since they had tumbled from the Castle, and learned that he had been doing much the same, albeit at a slower speed than he was used to. Allura coaxed Shiro awake and filled him in, and he was able to communicate to the Black Lion to carry the Red Lion again as they continued on their way.

Shiro burned through the medicine for his fever quickly, and there was no sign of it lessening. Allura did her best to care for him, but he was steadily worsening. Allura considered coordinating an exchange between the Lions to get the medicine from Keith’s med kit, but she had no idea how to manage such a feat without being in control of the Black Lion. There was no way to land on a planet, and she wasn’t sure she could convince the Black Lion to stop for long enough to manage the exchange and then continue on their way. She decided to leave it for as long as possible, in the hopes that they would come across the Castle.

Just when she had decided to call Keith to work out a plan, the Lions found the Castle. Coran was over the moon to hear from them, and informed them that he had already picked up Hunk, Lance, and Pidge. They were able to dock the last two Lions within an hour of contact, and Allura wasted no time in carrying Shiro bodily onto the ship and to the cryo pods.

Hunk nearly burst into tears at the sight of their leader, limp and bloodied in Allura’s arms.

“Princess, wait!” Coran stopped her from putting Shiro directly into the pod. “We need to remove the rest of that Galra arm before we put him in there.”

They took him to a small medical bay that Allura couldn’t remember using anytime recently, and laid him on the table there. Hunk found a towel and soaked it in cool water to drape across Shiro’s eyes and forehead while Coran and Lance worked on getting some of Shiro’s armour off.

Pidge ran scans to determine where exactly the tech was in Shiro’s arm, and what they had to do to remove it. Once they knew what to do, they prepared him for surgery, and less than an hour later Shiro was completely free from any Galra tech and placed in a cryo pod.

***

Shiro tried to catch his balance but somehow overcompensated, nearly falling over, but someone caught him in a warm hug that kept him from landing on his butt. He’d recognize one of Hunk’s hugs anywhere, and relaxed as he hugged the Yellow Paladin back. He remembered the loss of his Galra arm now, and knew that it’s missing weight was why he was feeling so off balance.

He peeled groggy eyes open and saw that the entire team was there, including Allura and Coran, all of whom were looking at him worriedly. He grinned fondly at the group that had become his family.

“You should see your faces right now.”

He was instantly bombarded by everyone’s responses as they all tried to talk at once, and he had to wave them off. Allura took his hand to guide him to a seat, and someone draped a blanket over his shoulders.

“Here, Shiro, check this out.” Hunk pushed a tablet into Shiro’s hand, “Pidge and me have been working on this while you were in the cryo pod. We were able to reverse engineer from your old prosthetic arm, and came up with this bad boy.”

Shiro stared at the blueprints for an arm that looked similar to what he had, but with Altean and human components rather than Galra. Pidge was explaining the technicalities, but he was having a hard time following.

“Okay, okay!” Allura finally interrupted, “He’s just come out of cryostasis, he needs rest, not a lesson in advanced technology.”

"Thanks, guys." Shiro reluctantly gave the tablet back, surprisingly choked up. Pidge gave his shoulder a squeeze before running off, and Allura and Keith escorted Shiro to his room while Lance, Hunk, and Coran argued about something on the blueprints. He expected to be left at his door, but was surprised when Keith walked in and shooed him towards the washroom.

Shiro freshened up a bit and stripped out of his under-armour jumpsuit to put his cotton sleeping pants and t-shirt on, beginning to feel exhaustion sinking in. Despite being healed in the pod, his body was still needing sleep apparently. When he came out, he saw that one or both of his escorts had made his bed ready to crawl into. Allura had left, but Keith was waiting in the doorway. Shiro looked at him questioningly, but Keith rolled his eyes and came over to all but manhandle him into the bunk, pulling the covers over him and turning the lights down.

“Thanks, Keith.” Shiro mumbled into his pillow, already feeling like he was falling asleep.

“Don’t mention it. Get some sleep.”

Shiro didn’t even hear Keith leave the room.

***

Shiro lurched upright with a gasp, clutching at his head and then his arm when it didn’t respond. His fingers met empty air where his right arm should have been and he couldn’t stop the strangled scream that escaped him. Weak, disoriented, and confused, he toppled over onto his side, hand clasped around the stump that remained of his arm. It was dark, and something bound his legs, trapping him. He struggled wildly and managed to free his legs, but suddenly found himself falling a couple feet before hitting the ground rather hard.

A door opened, letting in blinding light that made Shiro throw his hand up to protect his eyes, and low light suddenly lit up the room. He took in his surroundings, and his heart rate began to slow as he realized he was in his room in the Castle. He rolled onto his back and threw his arm over his eyes, suddenly embarrassed and feeling an awful lot like he could cry from sheer relief.

“Hey,” It was Keith that had come in and knelt beside him, unsurprisingly, as his room shared a wall with Shiro’s. 

“I’m fine,” Shiro muttered without moving his arm, “Just a bad dream. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Keith moved Shiro’s arm and checked his forehead for a fever, but seemed satisfied by the results.

“Is he okay?” Lance’s voice came from the doorway. Shiro inwardly groaned. If Lance was awake, he must have woken the entire Castle.

“Yeah, I think so. He says it was a dream.”

“I’ll be fine.” Shiro moved to sit up and nearly fell over again, still not used to the missing limb. Keith caught him, and between him and Lance they got him to his feet and back into bed and the lights turned down low. Shiro shivered and closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep, but he didn’t think that he would be able to. His hand and feet felt like ice, and he was having a hard time shaking the feeling of panic that had gripped his chest only minutes before.

“What’s going on?” It was Hunk that came in this time. Shiro pulled the blankets over his head. He was never going to hear the end of this.

“Bad dream.” Keith explained. “He’s cold now.”

Shiro squawked when his bed shifted as someone clambered over him, and he realized it was Hunk wedging himself against the wall.

“Dad pile!” Lance whooped and climbed in as well, sandwiching Shiro in the middle.

“Oh my god, you guys…” Shiro complained, but it didn’t hold much venom. The body warmth was rather nice, actually.

He was just starting to drift off when something draped itself over his legs as Pidge wandered in with a blanket and promptly went to sleep directly on his legs, and eventually Keith shoved Lance over to make room as well.

That was how Allura and Coran found them early in the morning when they came to check on the Black Paladin, who was barely visible amongst the sprawled limbs and blankets. Hunk had pulled Shiro towards his chest like a child would a teddy bear, Shiro’s head tucked under his chin. Lance also had an arm draped over Shiro, and Keith was drooling on Lance’s shoulder, while Pidge was sprawled on their back on Shiro’s legs, snoring loudly. 

Allura clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle, and Coran snapped a picture, but they left the team to sleep for a bit longer.

**Author's Note:**

> I always feel like I'm not finished with a story, so I'm not 100% satisfied with this one yet but I feel like I've been picking at it for too long SO here it is.
> 
> I'm not actually convinced Allura could do that to Shiro's Galra arm as it seems to be made of pretty stern stuff, but let's be real, Allura's nickname could be Princess Chuck Norris.


End file.
